


One More Shot

by appettence



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Happy Ending, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Light Angst, M/M, Reunions, i think lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-04 23:39:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18354098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appettence/pseuds/appettence
Summary: Whenever Klaus dies in the club and goes to heaven, instead of his father in that old cabin, it’s exactly who he wanted it to be.Dave.





	One More Shot

_“He’s waiting for you.”_

 

As if this soon-to-be fuck hole of a world wasn’t already hard enough for Klaus, now even God was talking in ominous and obscure sentences. Great. 

 

At least up here, though, the sweats and tremors weren’t as bad. 

 

“Who is?” He asked, just to humor her, and she gave him that holier-than-thou look yet again as if it should have been obvious in the first place. 

 

That’s when it clicked. Who had he wanted back ever since he arrived back in his own time period? Who had he stayed for, in Vietnam, rather than returning home and avoiding another war. The words slipped out of his mouth before he had even fully processed the realization, 

 

“Dave.” 

 

God seemed pretty pleased with this answer, so he flashed her one of his “award winning” smiles and took off in as fast of a sprint as he could to that old log cabin. It was fitting, he thought, thoughts of Dave sitting by a fire with actual coffee out of an actual mug rather than a thermos, surrounded by memories of the war that weren’t too painful and pieces from the timeline he grew up in and shared with Klaus for those ten months where the fourth Hargreeves decided that even though he didn’t belong in this time period, he belonged there. He belonged with Dave. 

 

He made it there in what felt like forever, his eagerness to see Dave making the time that he couldn’t go so horribly slow. Yet, he paused at the door, catching his breath as he adjusted his shirt and ran his fingers through his hair. _Inhale, exhale._ He wasn’t scared of seeing Dave, no, he was ecstatic. Words could not describe the feeling of happiness rushing through his veins, making each nerve ending come alive. But, he was extremely nervous. 

 

Nervous that if Dave really was in there, he wouldn’t want Klaus to stay. That Klaus was not _his_ heaven. 

 

With one last short breath, he wrapped his fingers around the old wood door handle and pushed the door open. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and Dave was the first thing he noticed, that same gentle smell of aftershave and the army base that he carried around with him up until the day he died. Klaus was slightly discouraged at the sight of no Dave immediately, but stepped inside nonetheless. Even just a trace of him was good enough for Klaus. 

 

Surprisingly, the inside of the cabin was completely different from the outside. Klaus imagined a rustic, gentle scene- a gentle reminder of the hills in Vietnam and the army base Klaus first showed up in, mixed with the comfort of having your own room and a bed instead of a tent filled with cots that, in turn, were filled with men, sweaty and stressed but thankful for sleep anyways. Instead, he found the perfect picture of a modern home in the 1960’s; the dream of an oppressed housewife and a sour reminder that even if Dave had survived the war, they would have never been able to have a life like they wanted, or a house like this. 

 

Letting out a slow sigh, he closed the door behind him and walked into the living room, smiling at the pictures that lined the walls. Each contained a memory from whenever Dave was alive, each one picture perfect, framed nicely, and real. He could see what he assumed was Dave’s mother (though he hadn’t talked about his parents much), his tiny group of friends in school, joining the army, his soft and drunken smile whenever he first bumped into Klaus at the bar, kissing Klaus for the first time, watching Klaus fall asleep in the cot next to his, sitting under a shade tree and laughing with him while they peeled oranges on days that were just too nice to not enjoy. 

 

Every single memory past the two of them meeting was of the two of them, up until there were no more memories to hang up. 

 

Klaus felt that familiar burn in his throat as his eyes began to tear up, but he quickly wiped them away and swallowed hard. This was not the time to be sad. This was the time to see Dave. 

 

He wasn’t sure where the fallen soldier would be, especially considering it just seemed to be forest for miles past this tiny cabin, so he just sighed and sat down on the couch with the slight hesitation everyone has attempting to get comfortable in a new place. He rolled his shoulders and sighed, tired and still hurting as his body went through withdrawals yet again. He’d past the worst of it by that point, but it didn’t making enduring the rest of it any better. With a huff of defeat, he sat back against the couch and let his head fall back, his heavy eyes closing as some faint wish that Dave was there beside him whispered in his mind as it had ever since he returned back to his siblings. 

 

Defeated and hurting, it didn’t take Klaus long for him to slip into that half awake half asleep state of resting, and he was so out of it he almost didn’t hear a pair of footsteps enter the kitchen stop just at the entrance of the living room. 

 

His eyes popped open almost as soon as his tired brain managed to register the noise, looking in all of the wrong places until his eyes finally landed on _him_. 

 

He was dressed in the same outfit he was whenever he and Klaus danced, drank, and kissed that night at the bar. He looked comfortable, and like any thought of the war and the gunfire was completely foreign to him. He looked like he was right where he was meant to be; right at home. 

 

He looked like home. 

 

Dave was the one who broke the silence, flashing that million dollar smile as Klaus looked at him like he was seeing the stars for the first time in years. He let out a simple, “Klaus,” before Klaus broke into a million pieces, right there in the living room, a broken sob of grief and happiness mixed together as he picked himself up and ran over to Dave, his arms wrapping around his neck as he buried his face into his chest like it was the last thing he’d never do. 

 

“Oh my god.” Klaus whispered as Dave laughed, wrapping his arms around Klaus in return and kissing the top of his head. “Oh my god is right,” Dave said, flashing him another smile whenever Klaus looked up at his face, wondering if this was real or some fever dream his brain had created while going through withdrawals, “I’ve been waiting for you.” 

 

Klaus chuckled sadly, letting go of Dave for just a second so he could wipe his eyes. “You look..”

 

“Handsome? Sexy? Youthful? Dashing?” Dave joked. 

 

“All of the above.” Klaus laughed, reaching up to run his hands through his hair. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening. He couldn’t believe he was sitting here, touching Dave, smelling Dave, having his arms around him again. It made the weight of grief he’d felt since his return from the war melt slowly off his shoulders, like running water. The sick-to-his-stomach feeling of being alone, and the cold of his bed at home that was somehow so much worse than the uncomfortable cots at the base — especially knowing that Dave could be there with him, but wasn’t — disappeared as Klaus buried his nose into Dave’s neck and sighed. He wasn’t sure what to say. 

 

Was there a greeting card for meeting your dead boyfriend in heaven? 

 

After a moment, Klaus pulled away from him, laughing the shock off before he leaned in to press a kiss to Dave’s lips. 

 

Even in heaven, it still sent that feeling of electricity right down his spine and into his stomach. 

 

“Your place is really nice,” he said, looking around as Dave walked over to take a seat on the couch, “A little rusty on the outside, but nothing a little paint couldn’t fix.” He groaned as he flopped himself down on the couch beside Dave, smiling at him as he put his hands behind his head. 

 

Dave laughed, “You gonna get out there and paint it, big guy?” 

 

“Ha!” Klaus laughed, removing one hand just to smack his knee despite how comfortable he was. “Me? Nah, you go out there in nothing but some shorts and I’ll watch you from the window, and if you’re real lucky I’ll bring you some lemonade like a perfect, pretty little housewife.” The last part faded into a sing-song voice, and the two of them burst into a fit of laughter that sounded like the prettiest song Klaus had ever heard. It slowly faded, leaving nothing but the quiet radio Dave had on and the sound of Klaus’s tapping foot. 

 

Dave eventually broke the silence. “I missed you,” he said, reaching over to rest his hand on Klaus’s leg, “Everything here, from the stupid lace curtains to the blue fridge, was built for an eternity with you. That life that we always talked about while-“

 

“Sharing a canteen of water and looking up at the stars.” Klaus finished. 

 

Dave smiled softly, reaching up to brush some hair that was beginning to stick to klaus’s forehead away. “Exactly,” he said, almost a whisper, “but you can’t stay.” 

 

“I’m sorry?” Klaus choked, frowning as he sat up further on the couch to face Dave, “I don’t exactly have a choice, Luther’s probably off getting the moon shaved into his back hair. No one ever cares where I am and it’s not going to start now.” He scoffed. “They’ll find my body in a club and not even be surprised. I just wanted to help, _goddammit_.” 

 

Dave sighed. “Cute stuff, I know you don’t see it now, but you’re helping. And you’ll continue to help. Your family needs you.” 

 

“My family? Ha! They don’t even take my recommendations for dinner seriously.” 

 

”You’re halfway through withdrawals. You’re a war veteran. You’ve been tortured, ridiculed, mentally abused, and scarred. Klaus Hargreeves, you are so much more than what people say and you are so strong. If you won’t do it for them, do it for me.” 

 

“Dave, I just—“ Klaus began to choke, and he turned his head away so Dave couldn’t see the tears that formed in his eyes. The thought of having to leave the only man he loved to go back to his family, just to continue the same mundane shit he’d been doing, tore him apart. 

 

“Klaus, please, look at me. We don’t have a lot of time.” 

 

Klaus frowned at that, turning his head to look at Dave, who was slowly beginning to fade from view. No. God, no. He had _one_ way out and even that wasn’t sticking.

 

“I love you. I love you so much.” Dave said hurriedly, standing up whenever Klaus did, clinging on to his arms to make sure he still had a grasp on Klaus’s attention. “You have a purpose. Fulfill it. Prove everyone wrong, and whenever you’re done, I’ll be waiting here. Just for you.” He spoke loudly and quickly, drowning out Klaus’s pleads of _“no, no, no, please, I can’t go yet, no, please don’t leave again.”_

 

Dave leaned in for one last kiss, something Klaus was willing to accept even in his frenzied panic, and their lips collided just before the sound of club music and distant murmurs replaced the faint noise of a news reader on the radio and the smell of Dave was replaced with the putrid smell of sweat and alcohol. 

 

Klaus sat up with a gasp, running his hands through his hair as he registered his living body again. The weak muscles, the sweat, the disgusting cold he felt all over his skin. He was back. 

 

With his eyes closed, he took a long breath in through his nose and sighed out of his mouth. Dave still lingered in his lips. 

 

And as much as he hated being back, if Dave believed in him, he supposed it was worth at least one more shot. 

**Author's Note:**

> if i don’t get a dave and klaus reunion in season 2 then what’s the point :(


End file.
